No way!

The Baseball Hall of Fame recently determined that Andre "The Hawk" Dawson will enter the Hall and be memorialized on his plaque as a member of the Montreal Expos. Years ago players elected to the Hall of Fame could determine which team they would represent. I believe the Hall decided to take more control in this decision after George Steinbrenner began offering millions of dollars to Dave Winfield and other well-traveled inductees to enter the Hall wearing a Yankees cap, even if they played just a few years with the Yankees compared with longer, more accomplished stays in other cities. Dawson, who starred for the defunt Expos for the first 10 years of his career wanted to go in as a member of the Cubs, for whom he won an MVP award during his 6 years and actually played in front of enthusiastic, English-speaking crowds. He said he's going to figure out some classy way to pay homage to his Cubs fans while respecting the Hall's decision to cast his likeness in bronze wearing an Expos hat.

What's all this have to do with jeans - I mean rock 'n roll? I was thinking about some well-traveled musicians who've been inducted in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and, if that Hall had such rules, making it necessary to determine one band lineup or instrument to cast in bronze. As it is, the R 'n R HoF allows for artists to be inducted as both a member of one band and a solo artist. I don't think they make a Pete Townshend, for instance, choose a single guitar to represent his display. But what if they did?

What single guitar would the R 'n R HoF choose to represent Pete Townshend, the Rickenbacker of his Maximum Rock 'n Roll days or the Gibson SG of the band's breakthrough festival years?

Follow up:

I move that the Hall induct the Strawberry Alarm Clock just so these guitars can be cast in bronze!

What about Eric Clapton, who's been shilling Fender cell phones of late but much of whose best work was done on other guitars. Would Slowhand have to find a classy way to acknowledge Fender or, more importantly, if the Hall had to choose one format in which to induct the guy, does he go in as a member of The Yardbirds, Cream, Derek and the Dominos, or a solo artist? We assume the Hall would have already legislated against John Mayall throwing a few million his way to enter as a member of his Bluesbreakers. I know, I know, the Hall has already inducted him in three formats, but let's pretend we have to choose one. "Layla" may be his signature song. Can Clapton find a classy way to acknowledge Jim Gordon's piano coda? Then we'll work on Jeff Beck's status as a Yardbird or a solo artist.

Lou Reed, solo or as a member of the Velvet Underground? You may think I'm whack, but I say it's a tougher call than you probably first imagine.

Let's say The Rolling Stones' plaque needs to represent one version of the band's three classic eras: the educated RTH public probably lobbies the Hall to cast the Mick Taylor-era band, while the general public can't imagine anything but a plaque including Ronnie Wood. (You may recall Rock Town Hall's original credo: Fans of Ron Wood need not apply.) Does the Hall go for one of these lineups, or do the so-called Stones purists among the curating crew win out and decide that the Brian Jones lineup wins the bronze?

You get the idea. Feel free to weigh in on these examples or add your own. I'm sure, for instance, that there are some evenly split multi-instrumentalists who would need to be cast playing one instrument or the other.